This year the Lineup contains both traditional and Indie Blues artists! Which reflects the diversity of music that comes from the Roots of the Blues. No matter what your flavor of Blues and Roots Music you will find something to love in this lineup!

In Addition to great music on the main stage there will be an “Education Stage” where you will be able to learn Blues Dancing, Zydeco Dancing and participate in a Blues Harmonica workshop! This is a great event geared towards the whole family!

Carl Weathersby was born in 1953, in Jackson, Mississippi and moved to East Chicago, Indiana with his family when he was eight. When he started playing guitar as a teen he said his father always had musician friends stopping by the house. One that used to come by often was this big guy that Carl only knew as Albert, the mechanic. Albert happened to be watching the young Weathersby practicing some Albert King songs on guitar one day. Carl said he had been practicing this one song called ‘Cross Cut Saw,’ playing it over and over until he said, ‘I think I got it. So I started playing it and this guy said, ‘man, that ain’t the way that song goes, that ain’t the way I played it.’ It turned out to be Albert King who proceeded to show an amazed Weathersby just how it was supposed to be played. King offered some welcome encouragement to Carl and took a liking to the young lad.

After his tour of duty in Viet Nam, Carl found employment as a steel mill worker, as a prison guard and even a police officer. Weathersby was Albert King’s rhythm guitarist between 1979 and 1982, and then spent some 15 years with Billy Branch’s Sons of Blues as lead guitarist before striking out on his own. His debut solo album on Evidence Records, ‘Don’t Lay Your Blues On Me’, was nominated for the W.C. Handy ‘Blues Album of the Year’ award. His latest release ‘Hold On’ is available online at Cdbaby.com.

Mixing Southern charm, soulful vocals, and fierce guitar-playing, Carl plays the blues, from down-and-dirty to scintillating Albert King influenced chops. This is one powerful blues performer that will leave you amazed and thoroughly entertained.

Up All Night.” It’s an apt title for Albert Castiglia’s seventh album: nobody sleeps when this man is in town. After 27 years of house-rocking studio albums and smack-in-the-mouth live shows, the Florida bandleader is the acknowledged master of red-raw, sweat-and-hair blues that gives it to you straight. Now, the visceral riffs and bruised soul of Up All Night make everything else sound like a lullaby. “I’d describe the musical vibe of this new album,” says Castiglia simply, “as heavy.”

Being released October 6, 2017 on Ruf Records, Up All Night finds Castiglia in a creative swagger after last year’s acclaimed Big Dog. What wasn’t broke then hasn’t been fixed now, with the bluesman once again recording at Dockside Studios, Louisiana, and capturing a warts-and-all mix alongside producer Mike Zito. “I figured since the Big Dog session went so well there, why change studios?” he reasons. “I’ll probably record there for the rest of my life.”

Dockside might be home-turf, but any notion of a comfort zone was dispelled by an edgy new lineup who pushed their bandleader to the wire. “Putting my new band together was a pivotal moment and this recent incarnation has really upped my game,” says Castiglia. “My drummer, Brian Menendez, is very dynamic and gives me that extra spark. He’s along the lines of a Ginger Baker or Mitch Mitchell. Jimmy Pritchard is my bass player and he’s solid as a rock. His tone is fat and he’s right on time. When I hear him, I think of Bill Wyman or Calvin ‘Fuzz’ Jones. It’s a power trio with no boundaries or restrictions. It’s a pretty amazing sound to me and it’s reflective in Up All Night.”

Up All Night is what happens when fist-tight chemistry meets a songwriter firing on all cylinders. Flying out of the blocks and bottling ten songs on the first day, Castiglia shook the Dockside walls with the most powerful songs of his career. There’s the stinging “Hoodoo On Me.” The strutting garage-band vibe and scream-it-back chorus of “Three Legged Dog.” The punchy call-and-response bar-room brawler that is “Knocked Down Loaded.” “That song was written with my frequent collaborator, Graham Wood Drout,” says Castiglia, “and it brings me back to when I was a young musician and felt like I was ten feet tall and bulletproof.”

Other high-velocity cuts include “95 South”‘s travelogue, decorated by the inimitable slide-guitar fairydust of Sonny Landreth (“That’s about having to drive from Washington D.C. to my home in South Florida in the middle of a tropical storm”), while “Chase Her Around The House” splices an early rock ‘n’ roll vibe with an age-old male need (“It’s about coming home and wanting to devour your significant other after being on the road for a long time”).

He’ll pummel you with the rough stuff, but Castiglia can also shift gears to more contemplative moments, whether that’s the rolling and contented acoustic blues of “You Got Me To That Place,” or its thematic opposite-man, “Unhappy House Of Blues.” “That song was co-written with Cyril Neville,” he explains. “Cyril wrote the lyrics but I completely relate to them, because they bring me back to unhappier times when I was a struggling musician and I had no support from who I was with. I think anyone can relate to these tunes.”

This isn’t Castiglia’s first time around. Born on August 12th, 1969, in New York – before moving to Florida aged five – he made his professional debut in 1990 with Miami Blues Authority, but truly hit the international radar when Junior Wells invited him into his solo band for several world tours. “It was an incredible adventure,” recalls Castiglia. “Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a Chicago bluesman. Junior opened the door for me to do that. He recorded his last studio album, Come On In This House, at Dockside. What a sign!”

The gig was a shop-window, and though Wells died in 1998, there was no stopping Castiglia, whether he was joining the great Atlanta vocalist Sandra Hall for national tours in the late-’90s, or holding his own in onstage jams with everyone from Pinetop Perkins to John Primer. Nobody’s sideman, his own burgeoning solo career began with 2002’s Burn, followed up by 2006’s A Stone’s Throw, 2010’s Keepin On and 2012’s Living The Dream. In 2014, Ruf debut Solid Ground was declared “smouldering and intense” by The Blues Magazine, while last year’s Big Dog was the thrilling culmination of a lifetime’s craft, championed by Blues Blast’s Kim Derr as “the best album I’ve listened to this year”.

That back catalogue is a high bar, but Up All Night raises it, defying you to sleep until you’ve worn out its 11 magnetic tracks. “You’ll rock out and dance like nobody’s watching,” concludes Albert. “If you’re sad, this record will lift you up. If you’re already happy, this album will make you happier. You can listen to this album anywhere, anytime…”

They bear the torch of their predecessors with the knowledge that Blues and rock ‘n roll can move a new generation. They’ve played in front of thousands at festivals like Outside Lands and Voodoo Fest, they’ve headlined the legendary Fillmore Theater in their hometown and they have supported acts like The Black Keys, Cage the Elephant and ZZ Top. Now, with the release of their fourth album, Twelve Spells, they have solidified a place in their City’s rich rock ‘n roll history.

​Founded by brothers Shannon (vocals/drums/harp) and Spence Koehler (guitar/vocals), who came from the Sierra Nevada foothills near Tollhouse CA, The Stone Foxes started back in the Koehlers’ SF State days in the Sunset District of San Francisco. Two weeks before they went on tour in 2011, they decided they needed a keyboard player and they added Elliott Peltzman from Fairfax, CA to play for a couple months…but he never left. They needed another drummer who could also play bass and guitar for tour in 2013, so Shannon called his high school friend Brian “The Buffalo” Bakalian…he never left either. Their old friend Vince Dewald came in to jam one day later on that year, and after the Indiana kid started singing, playing his lefty guitar and his brother’s right handed bass upside down, it was a done deal. Finally in 2014, after convincing (basically begging) Vince’s old bandmate to move back from his home town of Boston, Ben Andrews came out to play guitar and violin. After their first practice with Ben, the circle was finally complete and they had beers at the Lone Star tavern on Harrison Street to celebrate their new-found brotherhood.

​Invoking the audience with their commanding stage presence, even jumping down into the crowd if the mood strikes. Their fans know they are in for something action packed and they light a fire in the band, just as the band spreads fire back into them. Guitarists digging in, lead vocals changing between two unique voices with impassioned nuance, and keyboard and organ sounds that fill the space with smoke and burning embers. There are crunchy drum tones, wailing harmonica draws and violin cries that can silence even the most raucous of rooms. But this is not a sit-down-and-watch kind of event. Like Elvis once said about rock n roll, “If you feel it, you can’t help but move to it.” The Stone Foxes’ live show brandishes this kind of dynamic passion on stage. It’s impossible not to feel it.

With the release of Twelve Spells, the band has chronicled their new beginning. The sounds they are creating are new with tinges of western darkness, punk, surf, and americana, but are strongly tied together by their everlasting rock ‘n roll core. Lyrics about gentrification, income inequality, romance, and heart surgeries pour out of their stream of consciousness. It’s a fresh rock ‘n roll album that chronicles the years of their unification, taking on the issues of their lives and our times.

Charlie Wooton was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana, with his four older brothers, who were all exceptional musicians, including Dr. John Wooton, head of percussion at USM. As a teen, music was Charlie’s life; studying Classical and Jazz during the day, then playing gigs at night with his brother David, or Bobby Brooks, or spending 6 straight hours playing Zydeco at the LaLa with Grammy winner Chubby Carrier. Charlie soaked it all in, learning how to put on a show, manage a business, and continue to hone his craft.

At 20 years of age, he moved to Los Angeles and worked as a sound engineer at 3rd Encore Studios. It was there he met and played with Kim Stone, bassist for Spyro Gyro, who gave Charlie his signature blue bass. Soon, Charlie felt it was time to move back to the south, and make Atlanta home. Getting back to his Louisiana roots, Charlie formed Zydefunk. This energetic cross-pollinated band took Atlanta by storm, playing sold-out gigs and parties all over the Southeast. Zydefunk has even been featured multiple times on CNN. Charlie also began to feature his other influences of jazz, classical, blues and world music with Charlie Wooton Project (CWP). Charlie had the opportunity to play with artists like Count M’Butu, Oliver Wood, Donny McCormick, Sean Costello, Grant Green Jr., Jeff Sipe, Dick Smith, Rev. Jeff Moser, Doug Belote and Willie Green.

In 2010 Charlie moved back to his home state of Louisiana. Since then, he has played with some of the best acts in New Orleans: Bonerama, Sonny Landreth, Zigaboo Modeliste, Johnny Vidacovich, Cyril Neville, Chief Monk Boudreaux, New Orleans Suspects, Big Sam’s Funky Nation and many more. As a member of Royal Southern Brotherhood for 4 years, Charlie recorded 4 CDs as bassist as well as having written several of RSB’s songs, including one of their biggest hits “Fired Up.”

Charlie has been written up in numerous music publications, nationally and internationally, including Bass Player Magazine and most recently in Bass Player Brazil for the release of ZabaDuo, with Rafael Pereira.

When not on the road, Charlie is an actively working, sought after and accomplished producer. As much as he loves to play, Charlie equally enjoys making other musician’s dreams come to fruition. This year alone he produced five albums at various studios including The Music Shed as well as his favorite studio in Maurice Louisiana, DOCKSIDE Studios.

John Babich

When you fall in love … you just do. Gobsmacked. Besotted. The Can’t-Get-Enough kind of love that makes you sign up for life.

That’s how John Babich feels about Zydeco. Yep, Zydeco music. New Orleans and Lafayette, Louisiana music. Creole “double-kicks” that rhythmically lift you out of your chair and funky percussion that tattoos your brain. John Babich and the three other permanent members of the capital’s own Zydeco Zoo are the go-to practitioners when Tallahassee zydeco-addicts can’t make it to the Big Easy.

Babich, who as a kid in Massachusetts was something of a piano child prodigy, had long been a traveling keyboardist with Bill Wharton, The Sauce Boss, spreading the blues from Canada to Europe. He played with other bands, but even as he settled into a Tallahassee web-design job, he couldn’t shake the pounding insistence of country-style Zydeco.

“But I didn’t completely get it until my wife and I started dancing to that beat,” Babich says. “It’s the groove, that relentlessness that just won’t let you sit back down.”

Zydeco isn’t Cajun, Babich explains. Rather it is pure Creole — born from that Louisiana amalgam of black, Indian, French and rural whites who picked up anything they had to make music with. “You’ll see Old World accordions, fiddles, guitars, spoons, bones (probably pieces of rib bones) and the rub board all together.” And the effect is a loud and mesmerizing throb that, at least in Louisiana, will have dancers on their feet for “five and six hours. They can’t sit down!” says Babich.

JB of Zydeco Zoo fame has been playing piano to delighted audiences in Tallahassee for decades. Along with Charlies unique funk style of Zydeco, JB’s style of New Orleans funky time piano is just perfect for our Festival!

Beverly will receive the “Georgia Music Legend” Award at the Festival and will perform!

When Watkins was approximately 12 years old, her family moved to Commerce, Georgia. She began playing music as a schoolchild, and then in high school, she played bass for a band called Billy West Stone and the Down Beats. In approximately 1959, her junior year of high school, she was introduced to Piano Red, who had a daily radio show on WAOK, and she subsequently joined Piano Red and the Meter-tones, who played in a number of towns in the Atlanta area, and then Atlanta clubs such as the Magnolia Ballroom and the Casino, before starting to tour throughout the southeast, primarily at colleges. About the time the group renamed itself Piano Red and the Houserockers, they started touring nationally.

The group had two successful singles: “Dr. Feelgood” and “Right String But The Wrong Yo-Yo”. After recording “Dr. Feelgood” the group was known variously as Piano Red & The Interns, Dr. Feelgood & The Interns, and Dr. Feelgood, The Interns, and The Nurse. The group also included Roy Lee Johnson (composer of “Mr. Moonlight”, later recorded by The Beatles), and Albert White.

After the breakup of the band in approximately 1965, Watkins played with Eddie Tigner and the Ink Spots, Joseph Smith and the Fendales, and then with Leroy Redding and the Houserockers until the late 1980s. Subsequently she has been based in Atlanta, a well-known fixture at the Underground Atlanta.

Watkins, who not only had a long and continuous musical career, but worked with artists like James Brown, B.B. King and Ray Charles, was well known for years within the blues community. However, like many roots musicians, she found it difficult to crack the airwaves, and achieved recognition much later in her career, after the advent of the internet made it possible for musicians not backed by major labels to be heard by a wider audience. She was re-discovered by Music Maker Relief Foundation founder Tim Duffy, who started booking her in package shows, and in 1998, with Koko Taylor and Rory Block, was part of the all-star Women of the Blues “Hot Mamas” tour. Her 1999 CD debut, Back in Business, earned a W. C. Handy Award nomination in 2000.

Larry was brought up in the inner city of Cincinnati, Ohio by a single parent along with nine other siblings. The dilapidated three tiered tenement literally shook with the radio and vinyl record sounds of everything from blues, gospel, and soul, to jazz. It was in this fertile, eclectic musical environment that 9 year old Larry first picked up a pen and copied the lyrics of Willie Dixon, Bob Dylan, Laura Nero, Billy Strayhorn and countless others. Larry marveled at these wonderful storytellers and it eventually led him to write his own stories.

Two brothers returning from the military armed with funds from the GI Bill allowed the Griffith family to upgrade to the Walnut Hills section of Cincinnati, which housed the legendary King Records. Seeing great artists in the neighborhood like Freddie King, Bill Doggett, Hank Ballard, Ivory Joe Hunter and even the Godfather of Soul himself James Brown was an ordinary occurrence. As a matter of fact it was Wesley Hargrove of Hank Ballard’s Midnighters who first took 16 year old Larry into Federal Records recording studio to drum on several demos. This led to stints as a session drummer, weekend touring and a bird’s eyes view of the not so pretty side of the business all while still in his teens.

Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys had a profound effect on Larry because of the way Jimi married sonic sounds with futuristic, introspective lyrics. It was also around this time that he fell in lifelong love with the lyrical phasing of John Coltrane.

NOTHIN’ BUT THE BLUES

Relocating to Atlanta, Georgia in the 1990s, Larry discovered then quickly became immersed in the thriving Atlanta blues scene. It was here he had finally found a musical genre wide enough to accommodate his eclectic tastes. Still, it wasn’t until the early 2000’s that “the dream” turned everything on its ear.

While staying at a backwoods motel in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Larry who previously had no designs on or inclinations toward guitar experienced the same dream three nights in a row. In “the dream”, he was onstage ripping it up on guitar like a man possessed, working the deep delta juke joint crowd into a sweet, sweaty frenzy. Fully awakened, Larry came back to Atlanta and told his friend and bandmate, Chicago Joe Jones of his strange dream. It was Joe who then gave Larry his first guitar, a no-name something or other that he had found at a garage sale for a $1. From these humble beginnings and equipped with the visual of the Mississippi delta dream, Larry strapped on, plugged in, turned up and began chipping away.

THUNDERGYPSY’S SOUND CAN BEST BE DESCRIBED AS SOUTHERN SOUL, A MUSICAL GENRE THAT ORIGINATES FROM A COMBINATION OF STYLES, INCLUDING BLUES, COUNTRY, EARLY ROCK AND ROLL, AND A STRONG GOSPEL INFLUENCE. SOUTHERN SOUL COMES FROM THE TRADITION WHEN GREATS LIKE ARETHA FRANKLIN TRAVELED TO MUSCLE SHOALS TO RECORD HER CLASSICS “CHAIN OF FOOLS” AND “RESPECT”… WHEN WILSON PICKETT WENT TO MEMPHIS AND SANG “IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR” AND “MUSTANG SALLY”… AND WHEN CURTIS MAYFIELD, FROM ATLANTA, WROTE “PEOPLE GET READY.”

THAT TRADITION CONTINUES TODAY WITH BANDS LIKE TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND, ALABAMA SHAKES AND WARREN HAYNES INCORPORATING THESE ROOTS WITH THE SOUTHERN ROCK AND BLUES TRADITIONS OF THE ALLMAN BROS. AND STEVIE RAY VAUGHN. THUNDERGYPSY PLAYS ALL OF THIS AND MORE, CREATING MUSIC THAT MAKES YOU WANT TO MOVE!

THE GYPSY SPIRIT IS ALIVE IN THEIR ECLECTIC MIX OF MUSIC AS THEY TAKE YOU ON A MUSICAL ROAD TRIP FROM THE BIRTHPLACE OF SOUTHERN SOUL IN MUSCLE SHOALS TO THE ROCK OF MACON; FROM THE CLASSIC SOUND OF THE MEMPHIS R AND B TO THE STREETS OF NEW ORLEANS’ FRENCH QUARTER WITH ITS GOSPEL-INFUSED FUNK. WITH SIDE TRIPS THROUGH ST. LOUIS UP TO CHICAGO FOR THEIR ROCKING ELECTRIC BLUES, THE JOURNEY NEVER ENDS. BY TAKING FAMILIAR SONGS AND INTENSIFYING THE ARRANGEMENTS WITH ALL OF THESE INFLUENCES, THUNDERGYPSY CREATES A POWERFUL SOUND THAT HAS BEEN MESMERIZING AUDIENCES SINCE ITS INCEPTION.

THUNDERGYPSY WAS CONCEIVED DURING A CHANCE ENCOUNTER IN 2013. ONE YEAR LATER, THE STARS ALIGNED AND THESE FOUR MUSICIANS WITH SIMILAR TASTES IN MUSIC AND ATTITUDE FORMED THUNDERGYPSY.

WITH KEN WILLIAMS ON DRUMS, RICHARD PRICE ON GUITAR, PAUL ALLISON ON KEYBOARDS AND HEATHER STATHAM ON VOCALS, THIS QUARTET DELIVERS A FULL SOUND GUARANTEED TO DELIGHT YOUR EARS AND KEEP YOU DANCING AND GROOVING ALL NIGHT LONG! FOLKS OFTEN SAY THEY’VE NEVER SEEN A BAND HAVING SO MUCH FUN PLAYING TOGETHER.

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